Novelty doll



May 2, 1939- E. G. SCHAEFFER NOVELTY DOLL Filed'July 28, 1936 I INVENTOR I fllwnld fiz/tae/fir ATTORNEY Patented May 2, 1939 UNlTED STATES PATENT, OFFICE NOVELTY DOLL Application July 28, 1936, Serial No. 92,946

3 Claims.

This invention relates to novelty dolls and more particularly to a doll body formed from moldable material having areas of different hardness and flexibility.

5 It is Well known that children obtain the greatest enjoyment and pleasure from toy dolls which most closely resemble the human form. Moldable dollsheretofore made either have hard rigid bodies throughout or bodies which are all made of soft or flexible material throughout,

neither of which resembles the human form.

In accordance with this invention I propose to make certain portions of the doll body of relatively rigid material and other portions of relatively soft resilient or flexible material so as to closely resemble the corresponding hard and soft portions of the human form. More particularly the skull portions of the doll head is formed from material having a hardness which simulates the hardness of the hard skull portion of the human form while the cheek portions of the doll body are formed of relatively soft, spongy material to simulate the softness of the human cheek. In the same way the back, rib and chest portions of the doll body are made relatively hard and rigid while the stomach area is soft and flexible. The finger portions may also be made of flexible material so as to permit flexure thereof, while the remaining portions of the hand are made from relatively hard or firm material.

Other body portions may likewise be made relatively hard or firm, or relatively soft, resilient or flexible, to bestsimulate the corresponding body portions of the human form.

The doll body is preferably made from a vulcanized rubberwhich is differentially treated during the formation thereof so as to give certain areas of the finished material a relatively hard, firm texture and other areas of the material a relatively soft, resilient or flexible texture. The body areas can be given this differential hardness by the proper vulcanizing and curing treatment. All of the body areas are given a suitable color treatment so that the line of demarcation between the hard and soft areas is not vissoft body portions autogenously bonded and integrally formed and fixed to surrounding body portions which are relatively firm.

A further object of this invention is to provide a doll body having body areas of differential hardness which can be inexpensively manufactured with a minimum of labor, which is strong and sturdy in construction and durable in use, which has the appearance and touch characteristics of the human form, and which can be made in numerous types and sizes.

Various other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following particular description and from an inspection of the accompanying drawing.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, and the manner in which it may be carried out, may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a complete doll body having certain body portions formed of relatively hard or firm material and other body portions formed of relatively soft, flexible or resilient material;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse cross-sectional view through the doll body, this view being taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view through a portion of the doll head showing particularly a relatively soft cheek portion with the surrounding head portion formed of relatively firm material; and

Fig. i is an enlarged plan View of the dolls hand showing the fingers formed of relatively flexible bendable materialand the remaining portion of the hand formed of relatively rigid material, certain parts being broken away to illustrate the construction.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the drawing and specification.

In making the doll body I prefer to use a rubber compound which can be molded into the proper shape and form and which can thereafter be subjected to a process of vulcanization'and curing to give various portions of the body different degrees of hardness, softness, resiliency, or flexibility. By way of example, there is shown in Fig. 1 a doll body having a head I formed of relatively firm hard rubber material corresponding to the firm hard portions of the human head. The cheek portions 5 are formed of relatively soft, spongy or resilient rubber material so as to closely simulate the soft texture of the human cheek. The relatively soft cheek portions 5 are integrally formed with and are autogenously bonded to the relatively hard surrounding areas It of the skull, during the process of molding, vulcanizing and curing of the body. The chest, rib and back portions of the body are made relatively firm to correspond with the chest, rib and back portions of the human form, while the stomach portion or area 8 is formed of relatively soft, flexible material to simulate the human stomach area. The head I may be secured to the body 2 by a neck l5 formed of relatively flexible rubber so as to permit of a certain flexible movement of the head on the body. The legs 3 may be made of relatively hard material either flexibly or rigidly joined to the body as desired. The feet 9 may likewise be made of relatively firm material while the toes it] may be made of flexible material so as to permit flexure thereof in a manner which simulates the human toes. The arms 4 maybe made of relatively firm rigid material and may be either rigidly or flexibly joined to the body 2. The palm portion 6 of the hand may be made of relatively rigid material while the fingers I joined thereto are formed of flexible rubber.

The doll body is molded in a suitable form or mold while the rubber compound is in a moldable plastic state. The body portions which are to be relatively firm or hard are given a vulcanization and curing treatment to effect this result. Relatively soft, flexible or resilient areas are given a modified vulcanization and curing treatment so that when completed these areas will have the desired soft, flexible or resilient characteristics. The differential vulcanizing and curing treatment is preferably performed during different stages in the manufacture, preferably the soft, flexible or resilient portions are applied to the relatively firm or hard body portions after the latter have been cured or reduced to relatively firm state so as to be unaffected by the treatment given the relatively soft portions. Since both the firm and soft portions are formed of similar rubber base, the materials forming these parts have an affinity for each other, so that the soft portions become autogenously bonded and integrally formed with or secured to the adjacent firm portions so that no line of breakage or cleavage results. The doll body has a uniform human appearance without any line of demarcation between the soft and hard portions being externally visible although clearly evident to the touch. The dotted lines 3B shown on Fig. 1 indicate the division line between the relatively soft and firm portions of the body, but it is understood that they do not actually appear visibly since the coloring of these portions is such as to appear homogeneous and continuous.

The doll body is suitably colored or otherwise embellished or decorated so as to give the color appearance of the human form. Racial color characteristics can be brought out by the application of a corresponding color tone. When the selected body color has been applied the soft areas cannot be distinguished from the firm areas by visual inspection alone, but become readily apparent to the human touch when the body is handled.

It is within the contemplation of this invention to make one or more of the doll body portions, corresponding to body portions in the human form which are relatively soft or flexible or resilient, likewise soft or flexible or resilient in the doll. Certain relatively soft, flexible or resilient portions have been shown for purposes of illustration only. It is understood that other or additional areas or portions may be made of relatively soft, resilient or flexible material. By way of example, the dolls ears may be made of relatively flexible rubber while the surrounding head portions are made of relatively firm rubber. The bicep muscles of the arms may be made either soft or hard to bring out as desired a soft, pudgy characteristic or a firm, strong arm characteristic. Likewise, the thighs and hip portions may be made relatively soft or relatively hard as desired. It must be understood that this invention is not limited to any particular soft areas or hard areas but that any selected area may be made relatively firm or hard or relatively soft or resilient or flexible so as to closely simulate true characteristics of the particular human form selected to be duplicated.

A doll body constructed in accordance with this invention gives increased satisfaction and pleasure to the child because of its close similarlty to the human form to be duplicated. My improved doll body can be inexpensively made by molding operations at very little additional cost over molded bodies heretofore formed having a uniform hardness throughout. The arms and legs may be jointed to the body or otherwise flexibly or rigidly secured thereto as desired. The eyes may be painted onto the body or mounted therein as separate units. The dolls fingers and toes may be formed of treated rubber which has a predominant flexible but relatively firm characteristic, while the cheek and stomach areas may be formed of a rubber material having a predominant resilient spongy characteristic which is easily depressible but is sufiiciently resilient to return to its original position. It is seen, therefore, that it is within the contempletion of this invention to form doll bodies having portions or areas of different degrees of firmness, hardness, softness, sponginess, resiliency or flexibility and the proper rubber compound which most faithfully portrays the desired characteristics is selected. Thus a doll body is produced which has the visual appearance of the human form selected to be represented, and which also has body areas which are similar in touch to the corre sponding body areas of the selected human form.

While certain novel features of the invention have been disclosed and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various modifications, omissions, substitutions and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A doll body having body portions formed from relatively hard, pre-vulcanized rubber and other body portions joining the portions first mentioned formed of solid relatively soft resilient, flexible, vulcanized rubber, said resilient body portions being depressible by the application of external pressure but having an inherent resilient, flexible characteristic which operates to automatically return said portions to their original form when the external pressure has been released.

2. A doll body having a hand portion formed from relatively hard, pre-vulcanized rubber and flexible finger portions formed of solid relatively soft, flexible, vulcanized rubber autogenously bonded to said hand portions, said flexible finger portions being bendable by the application of external pressure but having an inherent resilient, flexible characteristic operative to automatically return said finger portions to their original form When the external pressure has been released.

3. A doll body having body portions formed from relatively hard vulcanized rubber and a flexible appendage portion formed of solid relatively soft flexible rubber autogenously bonded to said hard portions, said flexible appendage portion being bendable by the application of external pressure but having an inherent resilient flexible characteristic operative to automatically return said appendage portion to its original form when the external pressure has been released.

EDWARD G. SCHAEFFER. 

